


Distracted

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-11-28
Updated: 2007-12-08
Packaged: 2019-01-19 15:56:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12413301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: Lily is a four letter word for "I want to corner James Potter in a broom cupboard." [part the third]





	1. Part the First

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

**Distracted** by **shoelacy**

_Part the First_

James is distracted.

He’s distracted, and not because outside the sun is shining golden through the leaves and streaming in through the classroom window, through which he can see that the leaves are starting to change colors and that means that the weather is perfect for Quidditch. He’s distracted, and not because it’s Friday and his last class of the day, and after this he and Remus and Sirius and Peter can sneak out to Hogsmede to get a butterbeer from Rosmerta and celebrate the weekend.

James is distracted because three seats up and two to the left, Lily Evans is biting her lip. 

She’s biting her lip, and every now and then she flips her auburn hair over her shoulder so she can see as her green eyes dart back and forth across the paper in front of her. She’s biting her lip, and every now and then she’ll chew on the tip of her quill instead, so a small black spot begins to mar her pink lips.

James feels himself slip into a daydream, and he imagines that he’s biting on her lip, and that she’s not protesting, and that she’s trying to remove her lip from his teeth so she can do the same to his. He imagines that having Lily Evans biting his lip would be a very good thing indeed.

“Mr. Potter!”

He immediately snaps to attention, and later decides that it was a very good thing McGonagall called his name when she did before his daydream went any further.

“Yes, Professor?”

He doesn’t recall exactly what it is he was asked or what his response was. He can tell you, however, that he tried very hard afterwards to concentrate on the work in front of him—and failed. After all, who can be expected to concentrate when Lily’s biting her lip like that?


	2. Part the Second

_Part the Second_

Lily is distracted.

She’s distracted, and not because her mother is forcing her to be the bridesmaid at Petty’s wedding, which means she has to wear that awful pink dress with the lace ruffles, even though both she and Petty (especially Petty) have expressed most profoundly their extreme dislike of the situation. She’s distracted, and not because outside the castle walls there’s a madman who calls himself Flight of Death in a fancy, foreign tongue running rampant and killing everyone who gets in his way (or doesn’t).

Lily is distracted because three seats back and two to the right, James Potter is staring at her.

He’s staring at her, and she’s biting her lip with the effort of trying not to turn around and stare back. He’s staring at her, and her eyes are flicking back and forth across the paper in front of her as if she’s actually reading the assignment, but really she’s trying her hardest not to think about the effect his eyes are having on her.

Lily feels herself slip into a memory where she and James are picking up after their first Prefects meeting, and she’s still in shock because James took control when the Slytherins got rowdy and actually knew what he was talking about when it was his turn to speak. She’s still in shock, and as she silently puts everything back in her bag, James walks out with a quiet, “’Night, Lily.” She tries to end the memory there before she remembers how her heart skipped a beat at the sound of her first name coming from his lips.

“Mr. Potter!”

He immediately snaps to attention, and she feels the warmth leave her as his gaze settles on the front of the room. Lily later decides that it was a very good thing McGonagall called his name when she did before her mind started imagining what she would like to have done when James said her name like that instead of blushing at the floor.

“Yes, Professor?”

She can’t recall what he was asked or what his response was. She can tell you, however, that she tried her very hardest afterwards not to think about how his teeth would feel on her lip instead of her own—and failed miserably. After all, who can be expected to think clearly when James is staring like that? 


	3. Part the Third

_Part the Third_

Lily chews on quills. She knows she shouldn’t because it’s bad for her teeth and can get ink on her lips without her realizing, among other things, but she does it anyway. She calls it a nervous habit. And right now she happens to be very nervous, which is why the tip of her quill is slightly deformed and, unbeknownst to her, she’s got an ink stain on her lower lip.

Lily, however, isn’t usually nervous. She’s usually very calm (except around James Potter, apparently) because she’s usually got a handle on everything. But today, for whatever reason, all of Lily’s handles have fallen off. Lily sighs and decides to concentrate more on her potions essay (three feet on the effects of the brambleroot weed in a calming potion—something she could definitely use right about now) and less on the reason why she can’t concentrate. She glances at the last sentence she wrote.

“Lily is a four-letter word for ‘I want to corner James Potter in a broom cupboard.’”

_Great, now if I can only figure out where to go from—_

_Wait, WHAT?_

She stares at her parchment to make sure she isn’t seeing things. Unfortunately, she’s not, and double unfortunately, it’s true. Blushing, she raises her eyes to find the aforementioned distraction sitting across the Head common room working on the same essay, though probably having better luck on the concentration front than she is.

This, she concedes, is the reason she’s got no handles today.

_How can someone look so good while doing homework?_ She asks herself. His hair is tousled and his cheeks slightly pink from the warmth of the fire blazing in the fireplace, and though she can’t see them, she knows his hazel eyes are narrowed with the strain of scrutinizing his essay. His lips move slightly as he reads it to himself, and she briefly wonders what it would be like to—

_Stop that!_

She forces her eyes back to her paper in an attempt to keep working, only to find them drawn slowly back upwards. And this time, the cause of her distraction is staring back. He smiles when their eyes meet. “You’ve got ink on your lip, Lily.”

Lily is caught slightly off-guard. “Sorry, what?”

“You’ve got ink on your lip.”

“Do I?” She makes no attempt to remove it.

“Yes, you do.” He stands up from his arm chair and joins her on the couch. “A great big spot, right there on your bottom lip.”

“Oh,” she says.

“Aren’t you going to rub it off?”

“Yes, I guess I should, shouldn’t I?”

James smiles, then glances down at the table to see what she’s been working on, his eyebrows raising when they land on something very interesting, indeed. Lily’s eyes widen when she realizes what she’s left lying out in the open.

“Oh, err…”

“Why don’t I help you take that ink off your lip?”

“Erm, help me? How?”

Without breaking eye contact, James raises his thumb to his mouth, licks it, and proceeds to rub it slowly, tantalizingly, across her lower lip. He’s grinning all the while.

“There, all better.”

Lily opens her mouth to respond, but finds that she has been momentarily rendered speechless. Instead, she closes her mouth and attempts to swallow the lump in her throat.

“You know,” James says thoughtfully, “being cooped up in this common room all day has made me rather restless. I think I’ll go out and get some fresh air.” He stands up and makes his way to the door and is about to leave when he turns back around. “Actually, now that I think about it, I believe there are several broom cupboards on the way to the entrance hall.” He waggles his eyebrows at her, turns around, and leaves.

Lily stands staring at the closed door, wondering what in Merlin’s name has just happened. Half a second later comprehension dawns on her like a sack of bricks, and without thinking, she follows James outside.

**\---------------------**

**A/N: If you were wondering why the format of this part is different than the other two, it’s because this was originally written before Distracted and was intended to stand on its own. I was about halfway through with it when I decided it was going nowhere, and wrote the first part of Distracted, instead (also originally intended to stand on its own). I rediscovered this a couple of days ago when I was going through some old notebooks, decided it wasn’t half bad, and finished it. And voila, now you have part the third. :)**


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